One More Time(Quarterfinal)

So, a lot of people are drawing parallels to the Gulls championship season of 2009. A bad start, followed by the team beginning to work well together as well as a striker finding his form and scoring at nearly a goal a game.

Well, it’s certainly something no one would criticize people for saying around these parts because frankly it’s all true. Gone is the shakiness that characterized our early games and lacklustre offense. That’s been replaced by (mostly) calm actions on the field and yet another striker in blue hitting the net nearly every time. Gerba has 13 goals in 15 games, almost bringing him to a goal a game on average. If you count just what has happened since his coming out party in Baltimore, he has started scoring at what nears out to a goal every hour on the field.

The timing for both the good run of play of Ali (Zherba) Gerba as well as the team as a whole can certainly not be beat. It seems that gone are the days where Montreal would start hot and fizzle out. I, and I would hope many others, prefer this style of season to one that Montreal was known for merely a few years ago. Gone are the days of total defense interspersed with the odd goal or two. I haven’t watched a game afraid of no goals being scored by the Gulls.

If you have any knowledge of IMFC, you know just how strange and alien a feeling that is for us here in Montreal.

But don’t mistake my praise of our offense as taking something away from those who toil away in the back and middle of the field, making sure our goal is protected. Our defence is as solid as it’s ever been historically, the big change in Montreal was just finally having a working offense to go along with our indomitable defence.

This past quarter-final series versus the top-ranked Austin Aztex(from Texas…get it?) was what I like to see as a tale of two teams. The first leg which took place Wednesday at Saputo Stadium was a game in which the Gulls demonstrated their newfound offense built on the back of Ali (Zherba) Gerba, where he scored yet another effortless brace against yet another helpless team. In an interview that took place weeks before the game Marc Dos Santos had gone on record saying how Ali (Zherba) Gerba was not playing as good as he could be. Notably the Maestro said Ali had to work on his aerial game.

It looks like he did. An effortless header early on in the game set the tone of the match, which ended with yet another 2-0 win over the poor saps from Austin.

In the second leg of the quarter-final, there was certainly some action. There was a total 5 goals in the match that I will surprisingly label as Jordan’s game. Now at first blush you might think I’m even crazier than usual. That might be, but to anyone who had the pleasure of watching the game was treated to by an amazing individual performance by our beloved Phantom of the Pitch(NEVER FORGET) punctuated by a confident and effortless save on an iffy penalty call early in the game. This stellar play by Jordan was backed up by yet another(shocking, really) set piece goal scored by (surprise) Ali once more. Yet another header and display of passion from Gerba. In his own words, Marc Dos Santos has made the game enjoyable for him once more, something that he had apparently lost. A goal and flamboyant celebration by Eduardo “Old Man River” Sebrango was the final nail in the coffin for Austin, extending the Gulls’ aggregate lead to 5-2.

All this sets up another, sure-to-be-spirited matchup between our Gulls and Carolina’s Caramilks, which begins this Thursday night at Stade Saputo.

Now onto more interesting things. Those of you attentive enough to watch the video of King Ali’s goal may have noticed that in front of CXIV, there was not banner at all. And those of you who were too lazy to click one of my many(2) hyperlinks, can go back and click the first one.

See? Nothing there.

That’s because not even 5 minutes into the game, BEST security once again came into the section to take it down, by any means necessary.

Surely they were in the right though? Surely they had a justifiable reason and surely the banner was so obscene it should be taken down.

Well, take a look for yourself, courtesy of BallonRondMTL:

Ghastly, isn’t it?

The justification for a planned charge of the section by BEST security, overseen by our friends from the SPVM, for the removal of the banner in question was that “it’s hiding the ads”. Golly, BEST security, I’m sure Metro Grocery is glad you came into section and pushed people with handicaps and ejected members. That’s really positive publicity for them. The reason for the forcible removal of the banner? They asked and no one complied. Well, BEST, it’s kind of hard to hear a guy field level asking politely to take it down, over the din of 300 people screaming.

Those astute viewers out there might have realised that all ads in front of section 114 are legible, and that one of the two affected companies have their ads plastered all across the section.

But it’s not like it’s named after Metro or anything. Oh wait, it totally is:

If only there was some sort of small indication of the sponsor...

Apparently BEST workers were under orders to uncover the ads “or else” but that hardly seems like a warrant to do whatever is necessary to whoever. Another highlight of the whole 15 minute scuffle was when one police officer was asked what she was doing in the middle of the section while shit was hitting the fan.

Her response? “I don’t know.”

I’m sure glad it was a well thought out and precisely executed idea.

Also, credit to the club for channelling MC Skat Cat and taking two steps back(sweet reference, right?) by moving the ads from a fence in front of 114, back to attaching them directly to 114 and the whole stand itself:

2009

 

2010-Le12e Joueur.ca

 

See you Thursday.

 

D Natural is back!

Yes I’ve been away for a while, and yes the world was briefly robbed of anglo Gulls coverage, what with Steve Beau and I both being gripped hard by the strong hands of apathy.

I was going to write up about the very well played Gulls-Raging Rhinos tilt, which saw IMFC win a very important match on the final night game of the regular season, in which Ali Gerba(Zherba) scored the fastest goal in club history, a mere 17 seconds into the game. He then potted his second later on in the game, to make his goal total over the last 2 games to a whopping 5, with two consecutive record setting games. People were certainly happy about that:

But then I was going to write about the Canada match, in which Canada won in front of a, for once, pro-Canadian crowd in Canada against their CONCACAF rivals Honduras, 2-1. The game was also characterised by the creation of an Ultras group for Canada, with the aims of fully supporting their nation in a way more familiar and comfortable to ultras all across the nation, as well as it being Paul Stalteri’s record setting game where he became Canada’s all time senior men’s cap leader:

Ultras banner, Courtesy RedNationOnline.ca

This win in Montreal broke our 427 day streak without a win. People were certainly happy about that:

http://vimeo.com/14789442

But then I was going to write about Montreal’s come from behind win over the PR Islanders, 2-1. Yet another match where Ali Gerba(Zherba) showed his brilliance when focused, with two nice goals, including a ~30 yard golazo. People were certainly happy about that:

http://www.rds.ca/zv2/?categorie=impact (click the Impact 2 Islanders 1)

But then I decided to do a small writeup about this crucial upcoming game against The Rowdies, and how a win on sunday will lock us into the playoffs, and how well that looks, considering how positive the team has been playing of late. And by team I mean Ali Gerba(Zherba), and how he’s dragging us kicking and screaming into the post season with seven goals in his last three games.

Tous au Stade!

PS: Thanks to BallonRondMTL for the Rochester video, and Zed for the Canada match.

Life in Marvelous Times

As of last night, it seems like it might finally be good to be an Impact supporter: A win over their budding Caramilk rivals with a late goal by Byers, followed by an intense celebration courtesy of Kop CXIV:

Coming on the heels of this electrifying Wednesday night were a few big media announcements.

PR Mayard is officially back from Charleston. Fresh off his impressive stint in Charleston where as far as I know, he formed the core of a competent Charleston Battery, where they eventually lost in the USOC to everyone’s favourite Crew, Columbus.

The Impact will be selling 1 dollar hotdogs!!! Too bad they don’t have them scheduled for a Rochester game, maybe the lure of cheap pigbutts in intestinal tubes could have enticed the Rochester Stamped up one last time, where they would once again lose in a hotdog eating contest.

Based on my pregame interaction with him last night, it seems pretty likely that Matt Jordan will be back to starting in nets “next week”.

There was also a guest appearance of Antonio Ribeiro on local Radio, but I missed it and have no idea what was said, so…yeah.

And the big one, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…the return of King Ali! He’s back, confirming both the widely held suspicions that he would come back, as well as the slip from trialist Jawad el-Hajri  back on Canada day that “Montreal already found their attackers”. If the King can get over his training/effort problem, expect big things from him and the Impact attack, with young up and comers in Reda and Mayard, learning from the veterans Sebrango and Gerba, hopefully alongside a newly-lit Byers.

We are alive in amazing times…with dollar hotdogs.

Sayonara, Bombardero!

The Gulls have just(minutes ago) announced that they were jettisoning Roberto Brown. This comes days from the opening of the transfer window, and the club reasons that he did not “live up to expectations”… While true, it’s a line applicable to all members of our strike force, as no striker has more than 2 goals(Byers) while Brown, Reda and even Sebrango have 1. Our top scorers lie in the midfield, with Donatelli(4), Placentino(2) and many others at 1 goal apiece.

Certainly, Brown was underachieving(like every Gull), but to drop one of our(arguably) more “effective” strikers, and not others(Big Pete, Eddie), before Brown, is certainly strange. Maybe if it wasn’t for the Punch-heard-round-the-World, el Bombardero would still be yet another struggling striker in blue in the upcoming game on Wednesday.

Maybe the club have already solidified things with a striker coming into town(Gerba(Zherba)?)?

Maybe this means a full time spot for Reda, and PR Mayard is coming back?

Maybe the club is just incompetently run, too.(Note the lack of question mark).

Adios Brown, have fun on the canal.

Montreal Roundup #2

So, a few things have happened here in the Land of The Gulls the past few days, including an away game. Our Gulls went to Carolina to take revenge out on their Hawks for the sorry excuse for a match that took place here mere weeks ago. There’s something interesting about that Caramilks game-post, as it ties in nicely with many elements that have once again became news in Montreal. The recently played game did not so much deliver vengeance to Carolina for the loss, but it did perhaps take the sting away as we robbed a point from them when we equalised with a Tony Donatelli goal(PK, as per our style) in stoppage time.

Ali Gerba(Zherba) was also officially offered a contract by our resident well meaning fool, Nick DeSantis. This, if pans out, might be quite a good move for both the Gulls and Gerba himself as he has never really stayed at a club for a long period of time successfully aside from his time in Montreal, which in his few games earned him a spot among our top scorers list. And hopefully the addition of the powerful, tenacious(and risky) Gerba jump-starts our anemic offense. He may be a risky addition, but it’s time to roll the dice and shed the image of an overly cautious front office. What’s the worst that can happen, a striker that can’t score? It’s not like we aren’t used to that.

Also relevant to that past game post, Philippe “          ” Billy has become quite the force among our team, as he appears to be growing much more comfortable with the level and style of play here in North America, while it seems resident hero Pastel has started to backslide in the rankings. Hopefully he returns to his start-of-season form. I hope both continue to improve!

And you more astute readers will have noticed a change in appearance. As I have decided to address the emails sent to me talking about using a more simple theme that allows for better viewing of the Image of the Week. No more changes people! And if you find it bad, just hop on over to some Toronto based Newfie’s View From the South Stands where the gray-text-on-black-background-on-gray-borders wreak havoc on your eyes as you scroll.

Next up, we play the Politecaps at home today. They’re without washed up-potential star Marcus Haber, as it looks like he shagged off to England, while we’re without Jordan and Sebrango(groin), Aaboubou(personal) and Pesoli(toe).

Expect a post-game update within the next few days!

No update is better than this update…

About the recent Gulls-Caramilks game.

And I mean it in a sense that writing no update, would be better than writing this one. Sunday was a day of disappointment unlike others in recent history. It wasn’t the muted disappointment we felt in the V cup, where we tried and failed, due mostly to discipline problems against les Clowns, and refereeing controversy against the Caps.

It was a whole new sensation, of a defensive team making  many defensive errors during the run of play. That, coupled with the league’s worst offense and a terrible(aka: Afternoon) crowd made for a day of complete disappointment for all of the Gulls dedicated fans. Cedric Joqueviel, seemingly long past his great first year with us, committed two defensive errors that resulted in both of the Caramilk goals. The breakdown at the 90th minute definitively sunk the hopes for IMFC but in the eyes of attentive fans throughout Saputo, it was over after the first goal of the 20th, as there was no signs of a comeback, instead, it was the same listless performance in the final third, where the number of opportunities in relation to time of possession was greatly imbalanced. What chances the Gulls managed to have were harmless, save for a nice David Testo volley that hit the wrong side of the post and went out of bounds.

The fact that the Impact could not beat a ginger with disco sideburns was seemingly not lost on the club brass, as word has it that the Canadian goalscoring phenom(take it with a grain of salt) and former Gull, Ali Gerba(Zherba) is now training with them once again, as well as Philippe “            “(represents his invisibility) Billy’s old teammate from Brest, Cédric Fabien.

Now, saying you’re pursuing Canada’s best goalscorer is like saying you want Mauritius’ best hockey player, especially considering Ali is constantly plagued by criticisms of laziness, fatness, and radness. He shows flashes of brilliance with the national side, but when it comes to the club side, he plays the role of the resident love-hate player; amazing potential with some negative quality that usually takes away from his stay.

Hopefully, if he finally comes home to roost with his fellow Gulls, Marc Dos Santos makes sure that he maximizes potential because the last thing the club needs is yet another waste of space up front, like “Old Man Eddie” Sebrango, Peter “Insert nickname here” Byers and Roberto “Tyson” Brown.

Because even MIAMI FC(MIAMI!!!) has scored more goals than ours. Next up is the “anticipated” friendly against AC Milan, Wednesday, at the Big Nest.